St. Louis Cardinals: Two Under-the-radar Roster Moves

The St. Louis Cardinals made two under-the-radar roster moves on the final day of March. What do these mean for the overall team?

The St. Louis Cardinals finalized their preseason activities on Friday night by playing against their little bird counterparts in Springfield. This means that the only things standing between the Cardinals and the first pitch of the 2017 season are the opening ceremonies and the potential Yadier Molina extension announcement.

But wait, the preseason activities haven’t come to a complete close. While we were all watching exciting internal exhibition games, the St. Louis Cardinals made two roster moves on the final day of March. The first was grabbing Mark Montgomery who had been released by the Yankees and the second was a reassigning of Jacob Wilson. Let’s take a look at both.

Who is Mark Montgomery? This right-handed minor league relief pitcher has not yet made his MLB debut. He was drafted by the Yankees in the eleventh round of the 2011 amateur draft out of Longwood University in Virginia. This 26-year-old has appeared in 312 innings in his minor league career having posted a 2.57 ERA.

2.57 is a good ERA, so why did the Yankees release him? Despite his decent numbers, the Yankees witnessed his control issues as reason enough to release him. That said, he did appear in 45.2 innings across AA and AAA in 2016 earning a 2.56 ERA on only thirty-one hits allowed.

Montgomery played in the Venezuelan Winter League in 2016. This effort might actually have worked against him in terms of him staying with the Yankees. In winter ball, Montgomery posted a 7.36 ERA across a mere 3.2 innings. He allowed four hits and three earned runs in these innings.

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With Trevor Rosenthal‘s surprising exit to the disabled list, the St. Louis Cardinals made this little-risk move. Montgomery was provided a minor league contract and is set to appear in Memphis to show whether he has his control troubles under wraps. If he can, then his arm could well serve the club as the season progresses.

Another move was made by the St. Louis Cardinals on the final day of March. On the final day of March, Bartlett, TN’s own Jacob Wilson was reassigned to the St. Louis Cardinals. Then crickets. Wilson is not on the active roster but nothing more is said about him.

What’s this all about? Best guess- from me (which means I’m very likely wrong)- is that something more is coming involving the name Wilson. Does this “move” indicate that Wilson could be relocating soon? Maybe within the organization, maybe outside of the organization.

Adding intrigue to this speculation (for me at least) is the now-finalized extension to Yadier Molina. Does the extension make Carson Kelly more expendable? Does the under-the-radar move of Wilson hint at some package piece? Maybe not but until additional information is released about Wilson I can have fun rumoring (is that even a word?).

Next: Molina Extension Finalized

What are your thoughts? Like the signing of Montgomery? Intrigued by the Wilson assignment? Follow me on Twitter and I’ll share what I know when I know it. Go Cards!